


Dead on Arrival

by KaijuusAndKryptids



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Birthday, Body Swap, Claustrophobia, Coincidences, F/F, Gen, Gratuitous POV Switching, Guilt, Identity Swap, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, Psychological Trauma, Soulmates, Talking To Dead People, Unresolved Trauma, Wild goose chase
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:41:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21738526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaijuusAndKryptids/pseuds/KaijuusAndKryptids
Summary: On your 18th birthday, you switch bodies with your soulmate.It's Mila's 18th Birthday, and she wakes up in a coffin.
Relationships: Michele Crispino & Sara Crispino, Mila Babicheva/Sara Crispino, Sara Crispino & Victor Nikiforov
Kudos: 20
Collections: The Yuri!!! on Ice Secret Santa - Edition 2019





	1. Happy birthday Mila

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sneakend](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sneakend/gifts).



> Howdy Sneakend! I had a lot of fun with this prompt but hoo boy some of that angst really hurt to write (in the best way possible! And I hope it hurts you in the best way possible lol) I really tried not to give away any of the plot when I sent all those asks making sure I wasn't going too far with the angst, so it hope you like it ^v^
> 
> Happy Holidays

“Happy Birthday Mila!” Her rinkmates screamed in her face. She pushed Georgi away and punched Viktor with a laugh.

“My birthday isn’t until tomorrow, you goobers.”

Georgi leaned on Mila, an arm around her shoulders. “Yeah, but we won’t get to see you tomorrow. So! Let’s celebrate today! 

Yuri sneered, “Yeah, yeah. As long as your soul mate sucks less than you do, it’ll be one day of sweet, sweet relief.”

“Yuri! Be nice to the birthday girl.” Viktor chided. 

Mila laughed and laughed. Her honorary birthday would be wild, if Georgi and Viktor’s 18th birthday parties were anything to by. But Mila was more excited for her actual birthday. It would be the first time she got a glimpse at who her soulmate was. She wasn’t sappy or deluded, but Mila did have a secret, tenderly kept spark of hopeless romanticism in her. Mila had recently got her hair cut and her nails done. She even treated herself to a facial and full bodywork massage so that her soulmate would see the absolute best version of herself. 

* * *

Today Mila Babicheva turns 18. She wakes up with last night’s smile still lingering, and stretches. Her arms can hardly move before plush but very immobile walls stop them. Mila opens her eyes to complete darkness. She can’t even sit up without bumping her face on the top of whatever container she’s in.

“Ow, what the hell?” Mila glares at the void. Sure, her soulmate wouldn’t know she’s coming unless they’d already met, but still. She hadn’t gotten her expectations up for anything, because Viktor woke up in a completely different country, and Georgi woke up on a park bench covered in glitter. Having expectations going into a body swap would only breed disappointment, and Mila isn’t the type to ruin a thing before she has it.

This, however, sucks. Mila pushes against the top of the container she’s in, not quite used to a body that doesn’t go to 4am weight training. There really isn’t too much room for Mila to maneuver, but whatever leverage she can get doesn’t help the pillowy box budge.

* * *

Meanwhile, Georgi and Yuri bring breakfast to the stranger in Mila’s body. Georgi shushes Yuri as the two approach the couch Mila had passed out on the night before. Georgi sets the food down on the coffee table and turns to leave. Yuri, however, has other plans to greet their new guest.

Yuri throws himself over the back of the couch and Georgi isn’t fast enough to stop him. Georgi drags his hands down his face as Mila’s soulmate blinks awake. 

“Yuriiiiii, why would you do that?” Georgi bemoans.

“What? I’m just giving them a taste of Mila’s regular day.”

“We wanted to make a **good** impression!”

“Um-“ Mila’s voice cuts in. Yuri moves over so she can sit up. “Where, um. Who are you?”

Viktor walks in whining, “You guys didn’t wake me up for this?

“Yuri just ran ahead, he didn’t let them wake up on their own!” Georgi says. Yuri sneers back at him.

“Snitch.” Yuri turns back to Mila’s soulmate. “You’re in our friend’s body. Georgi already said my name, Yuri, and that’s Viktor.” He gestures behind her.

“So, now the question is, who are you?” Yuri leans into her personal space. Her head hurts as she tries to piece everything together. “Umm, I’m Sara-“

“Called it,” Yuri interrupts. Georgi shoots him the stink eye. Yuri shrugs defensively.

Viktor stands next to Georgi, and gives her a reassuring smile. “Well if it isn’t too far, how about we go see Mila?”

“Oh, sure. I um, I don’t know where I ended up. We’ll have to talk to my family first.” The boys trade dubious looks at that.

“Where you, ended up?” Viktor asks.

“Yeah, I, well the last thing I remember is the car crash. I blacked out pretty soon after contact, so I must be in a hospital. I don’t know which one though.”

The boys trade concerned looks at that.

“Well!” Viktor musters his positive attitude, “Let’s go find your family then.”

* * *

Mila’s throat is raw from screaming. She has no idea how long she’s been trying the walls but there’s a few holes in the upholstery. It’s impossible to keep track of time. Mila sniffs, she doesn’t want to cry just yet. She has to believe she’ll be saved soon.

* * *

Mila was blindfolded and pushed into the car after practice. Her rinkmates had told her it was a surprise. She had Yuri holding one elbow and Georgi holding her other as they led her into the restaurant. It was one of those ridiculously upscale places with three different kinds of sparkling water that all taste the same to her. But since Viktor was paying, she’d try just about everything on the menu! Mila lamented the fact that she couldn’t order any of the alcoholic drinks, a day shy of 18, but Viktor promised he’d pick up alcohol on the way home so she could get started on her birthday shots. She really was spoiled, she thought, a happy tear flittering over smile-sore cheeks.

* * *

“So! Tell me about Mila.” Viktor glances at Sara. He seems amused at her sudden question breaking the silence. He was the only one with a driver’s license and a car so he volunteered for chauffeur duty. The boys had wanted to join them but Georgi didn’t want to overwhelm Mila’s soul mate more then they already were. So Sara and Viktor sat alone, mostly in silence for the drive out of Viktor’s neighborhood. 

He hums, as the red light changes, focusing back on driving to Sara’s parents house. “She’s funny. She likes to make people laugh.”

“Oh. She must be popular.”

Viktor chuckles at that. “What makes you say that?”

“Oh!” Sara blushes and turns into herself more. “I just meant, that being funny **and** pretty is… quite the blessing, I guess.” She shuffles her feet. “Is she not very popular?”

Viktor grins. Sara is still a high schooler, where these things are more important he reminds himself. “No you were right, she is very popular. She can be scary too though. She caught her last boyfriend cheating on her, and she beat him up!”

Sara gives a weak laugh at that. “You don’t think she’d be, disappointed? That I’m a girl, I mean." 

“No, no of course not!” Viktor takes a split second to look at her, for emphasis. “Like Yuri said earlier, we all kind of suspected she… prefers girls.”

Sara assumes the grimace he shoots her is supposed to be comforting. She huffs a laugh to humor him anyway. Viktor tries very hard to keep the mood light, but Sara can see the tension he’s been holding in his shoulders and his jaw ever since they got in the car.

“Ah, is that a problem then?” They are close to Sara’s house, so if this line of questioning blows up in her face she could walk the rest of the way. 

Viktor gapes. “No! No, of course not! Me and my soulmate are both men! And well, our ballet teacher has dated other women. We’d never be,” Viktor waves his hand around as he chews on a word to finish with. “Disappointed. Or whatever.” Viktor ends with a humorless laugh.

“Oh.” Sara replies, at a loss for other words to say. “You just seemed, tense, for a while.”

Viktor deflates. He parks in front of a familiar house and faces Sara. “I always worry about my younger rinkmates, you see?” It doesn’t seem like the whole story, and Sara’s face says as much. Viktor takes a minute to collect himself. “Mila doesn’t like hospitals.” He admits.

“Oh.” Sara is starting to feel a lot like a broken record. “Well, I guess we shouldn’t keep her waiting then.” She braves a smile, and Viktor returns it in full.

* * *

Mila gasps for air. Noon came and went, not that Mila can tell. She licks at her tears, as much as she can reach them. She knows she shouldn’t be further dehydrating herself, but she can’t help it. She hates being trapped. She hates not being able to move. She’d dance to pass the nerves if she could. But she’s in a dark box, and nobody has noticed, and the frustration and fear keep building, and Mila cannot keep her tears at bay any longer. Worst birthday ever.

* * *

Empty bottles of Smirnoff and Schnapps clink as Mila grabbed for the unopened peppermint liquor with unsteady hands. She rocked back to her spot leaning against the couch, with Viktor’s guest blankets bunched up around the floor for comfier seating.

“Ugh,” Mila gagged. “This is what Hell tastes like, but Santa is there.” She gasped, throwing her hands to the coffee table. “Oh my God! Santa, Satan. They’re only a letter apart! But why would Satan deliver presents on Jesus’ birthday?”  
  
Georgi batted at her hands, making her lose her balance. “Don’t think too hard about it.” He shared an amused look with Viktor. Yuri has long since passed out, as the youngest with the weakest alcohol tolerance. Mila was comfortably tipsy bordering on drunk while the older men were buzzed on the way to tipsy.

Viktor finished off the peppermint hell drink on a dare, much to Mila’s utter delight. The three traded jokes and trash talk and lots of laughs. Then Viktor got very serious and took Mila’s hands to focus her attention on him.

“Hey, when you wake up tomorrow. Call us, text us, let us know you’re okay.” Viktor sniffed, and Mila was about to tease him for being so sentimental but Viktor continued, “I want to know you’re okay, and if you are close by! We could meet up with your soulmate in person if you do.” He added, appealing to Mila’s buried hope of fairy tale romance. It shut her up enough for her to meet Viktor’s eyes and nod emphatically. He smiled at that, and it was infectious. The trio was laughing again before long, and pouring tastier liquor for the birthday girl. This was the best birthday ever!

* * *

Sara’s family is not home. They waited around the house for twenty minutes, but guilt weighed heavy on Sara. She picks at her jutting wrist bone She insists they look for her brother instead. They’re twins, so she knows all of his hang out spots and brooding spots. He isn’t at the park they grew up by. He isn’t at the lake where he had his first kiss. He isn’t at the school, running laps on the empty track. With every miss, the guilty rock in her chest grows heavier and heavier, and Viktor tries his best to be optimistic. And somehow that only makes her feel worse. 

Viktor pulls up to a small café and insists they take a break.

“But the longer we put off finding my family, the longer Mila’s stuck in the hospital.” Sara pleads. The worry in Viktor’s brow settles heavy. He doesn’t try to smile, but his voice is softer than she’s ever heard it. 

“You’re hurting yourself.” Sara reacts like she’s been slapped. Half crescent indents make a crosshatch pattern under Sara’s thumbs, and Sara faintly remembers this isn’t her body. She registers shame on the peripheral. Viktor doesn’t budge and he looks more authoritative than she’s seen the whole day. “We’ll take a break, eat lunch. Then we can start fresh.” He says in that same soft voice.

Something about the contrast between sounding gentle and authoritative throws Sara off-kilter. She follows him into the café, still speechless. The café isn’t too busy. They’ve just missed the lunch rush, so there’s no line. Sara looks over the menu quietly, unfamiliar with the new place. It isn’t until they approach to order that Sara notices who is working at the register. Familiar caramel hair cropped shorter than she remembers, an even tan on an unmistakable but more angular face, and the exact same purple eyes she’s seen in the mirror her whole life looking at her expectantly. She breaks into a wide smile and throws herself over the counter to hug him.

“Mickey!” She chances a look back at Viktor and lets out a breathy laugh. She shakes her head like she can’t believe it. “Thank you! Wow, I wouldn’t have thought to look here.” She turns back to her brother. “Since when did you start working **here**?”

Mickey, for the circumstances, is taking this pretty well. He’s frozen to the spot, eye twitching, completely speechless. A taller woman with a short black bob gives Mickey a teasing punch and says, “This is cute and all, but your girlfriend needs to get off the counter. Preferably on the customer’s side." 

Sara gags at the same time Mickey startles. He faces his boss with wide eyes. “What! No! I’ve never seen this girl before in my life!”

Now that he’s unfrozen, he starts to pull out of Sara’s embrace and clear his throat. “You’ve got to be mistaken, please let go.”

“Mickey! It’s me, Sara!” And Mickey’s face flashes with pain before his expression darkens. He shoves Sara off completely. “That’s not funny. Get out.”

Viktor, ever the peacemaker, steps in with a calm voice. “It’s my friend Mila’s 18th birthday today, and she switched places with your sister for the day.” Thinking he’s addressed the source of Mickey’s confusion, Viktor backs down and Sara turns back to Mickey with a vigorous nod.

Mickey’s boss frowns. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”

“We’re twins!” Sara explains, slightly offended, and Mickey’s nose flares.

“Huh, I thought it was just you and your parents?” She says, tilting her head.

“It is.” Mickey spits. “My sister-!” He stops himself from getting too worked up. Their scene has already drawn some curious glances from the other customers. Mickey takes a deep breath and stares Sara down. “If you’re my sister then prove it.”

Sara is taken aback. Mickey was never so brusque or rude. At least, not to anyone who hasn’t shown keen interest in her. Mickey could be over-protective like that. Sara tries to think of something that only they’d know, but she’s wondering if she really even knows her own brother. First he gets a job without her knowing, and now he’s super rude behind her back? She starts to pick at her wrist again when she startles herself to a stop. 

“Look.” She shows her hand with the crosshatch nail marks to Mickey. “You’d always get upset with me for doing it. Hold my hands and talk figure skating until I stopped fidgeting.” She’s feeling triumphant so she adds in, “If they don’t fade by tomorrow, my soul mate and I will have matching marks. Temporarily.”

Sara meets her brother’s eyes only to see tears spilling over his lashes. He takes her hand almost reverently and shakes his head. She’s at a loss. To break the tension, she asks, hopefully, “So, we should go meet my soul mate. Where is she? Or I guess, where am I?” Sara shakes the confusion away. It’s hard to determine ownership of a body when they’re swapped.

Mickey sobs and Sara rubs his knuckles like she always does and his shoulders wrack harder. He shakes his head more and looks up at her pleadingly. “You’re dead. You died five years ago. But you’re-“ He hiccups. “You’re here?”

Ice freezes in her veins. She can feel bile building up in her throat. She only vaguely registers Mickey apologizing over and over again. The haircut she doesn’t remember, and the more angular features make sense now. The getting a job at some place that didn’t even exist while they were in high school makes sense now. His behaviors make sense now.

Viktor steps in with concern etched in his features. “If Sara is dead, where is Mila?” Viktor presses a comforting hand into Sara’s shoulder blades as he leans in to hear Mickey’s reply.

* * *

Mila’s oxygen is running low. She can’t scream anymore, and she doesn’t have the strength to pound on the box. Mila dips in and out of consciousness. She prefers when she’s knocked out. At least then she dreams of yesterday, a fantasy where she’s the princess who gets everything she wants. But when she fades back into consciousness it’s the same black constricted space. And it’s getting harder to tell which one is awake and which one is sleep.

* * *

Sara sits down at her grave while Viktor argues with the graveyard staff. She traces the engravings of her name, her birthday and death date. She looks at her shared birthdate with her brother and thinks about how he kept apologizing for the crash, but Sara knew she was the guilty one. At least she got in one apology to Mickey for destroying his science project and ruining his chances of going to that fancy technical school he applied for. They argued about it, the night Mickey crashed the car and sent Sara through the windshield. She crinkles her nose at the irony. She was so afraid Mickey would leave her behind to go to that fancy school she had no hope of making it into and she’s the one who ended up leaving Mickey an only child.

Viktor flops down next to her, startling her out of her self pity-party. There’s worry lines deep around Viktor’s eyes and a tense set to his jaw.

“No luck?” She asks. Viktor drags a hand down his face.

“They said they weren’t going to dig up an old grave for a single day when there’s no proof that the grave’s been recently disturbed. I even explained it was the soul mate thing, and they still shot me down.” He tries very hard to keep any bitterness out of his voice, but Sara understands his concern. She lays her head on his shoulder.

“Could you tell me more about her?" 


	2. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short description of Mila's post-coffin week.

Viktor dropped Sara off to spend time with her family alone, and told them where they could drop Mila off closer to midnight. Georgi and Yuri accosted Viktor before he could make it two steps through the door, begging to hear about their meeting. They sobered up as Viktor explained the situation, then Viktor went to make some calls.

When Mila woke up in her own body, on Viktor’s guest bed, she sobbed into her pillow. She was sullen the whole week following. Coaches Yakov and Lilia were extra gentle in practice, but by the end of the week, they recommended she see a therapist. 

On the day of her first counseling session, she went to see Sara’s grave for the first time. To see what it looks like from the outside. She took notice that the birth year is before hers. So she isn’t older than her soul mate. She doesn’t know how long she sat there when a man she’s never seen before sits next to her. 

“It’s Mila, right?” She turned her head but otherwise left it resting in her arms. “I uh, I’m Sara’s brother. Michele.”

Mila hums but it’s not out of curiosity. He clears his throat and rubs the nape of his neck. “I’m sorry.” It gets her attention. “Uh, I don’t know how the soul mate thing would work in this situation, but Sara came back, we could talk to her and she didn’t even know she was dead.” He seems to catch himself rambling and blushes. “Uh, but you…” He trails off, feeling guilty. 

Mila gives an amused huff. “No, I want to hear about her. We’re soul mates and the only thing I know about her is how comfy her coffin is.” 

Michele gives an awkward grimace at her dark joke. She rolls her eyes and elbows him. “So, what was she like?”

**Author's Note:**

> Since Mila does not have an official birthdate (yet) you can insert whichever month you prefer OTL


End file.
